Roberto Carlos Pelayo of Alhambra, a senior math and psychology major at Occidental College, has been awarded the institution’s first Benedict A. Freedman Prize for Mathematical Promise.

Freedman, an emeritus professor whose family is making the annual award possible, will present the $500 prize to Pelayo during a Nov. 15 campus ceremony. Pelayo is being recognized for his investigations into probabilistic problems arising in the area of graph colorings.

Pelayo is a Los Angeles native and graduate of Loyola High School, where he was president of the Math Club. Pelayo entered Occidental in 1998 with 40 advanced placement credits. After graduation, he plans to attend graduate school in mathematics.